Enterprise Holdings made changes at the top in 2013, with Pam Nicholson being appointed chief executive in June. Nicholson is only the third CEO in the company's history and the first to come from outside the Taylor family.

Nicholson replaced Andrew Taylor, who had been CEO of the car rental giant since 1991 and remains with the company as executive chairman. Nicholson had served as chief operating officer of the company since 2003 and president since 2008.

Enterprise Holdings grew its revenue by $1 billion during 2013, as it expanded its international operations and added new services. Enterprise Holding owns and operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. In 2013, the company added new franchise agreements for Enterprise Rent-A-Car throughout Europe and new National Car Rental and Alamo Rent a Car locations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Enterprise Holdings made two main acquisitions during the year, acquiring the business of Zimride, an online ride-matching service, in July and Chicago-based IGO CarSharing in May. Terms of the deals weren't disclosed.

“In 2014, we expect to continue to expand our worldwide network of airport and neighborhood locations and to make additional investments in our rapidly growing car-sharing business," Nicholson said.

St. Louis-based Enterprise Holdings and Enterprise Fleet Management are owned by the Taylor family. The world's largest car rental company, Enterprise Holdings has a fleet of more than 1.4 million cars and trucks, with more than 8,100 locations in 50 countries.

Add any jobs in 2013? We increased our local employee count by less than 600 in 2013. Our worldwide employee count increased by nearly 3,000 in 2013, with hiring across all segments.

Adding any jobs in 2014? We expect to hire about 500 people in St. Louis, many of them in our Enterprise Rent-A-Car Management Training program. In 2014, Enterprise Holdings plans to hire more than 11,000 full-time employees companywide.

Tech giant World Wide Technology continued its $1 billion annual revenue growth streak again in 2013.

“It was a very good year," said CEO Jim Kavanaugh. “We continue to work our plan of doubling our top and bottom lines every five years. And we continue to focus on profitability and growth, while making our company a great place to work."

Founded in 1990 by co-owners Chairman David Steward and Kavanaugh, World Wide provides technology equipment and services to Fortune 500 companies, universities and the government, including the military.

In May, the company opened its new $20 million state-of-the-art 57,200-square-foot global headquarters building in Maryland Heights. Although the new facility was meant to accommodate the company's rapid growth, Kavanaugh is already thinking about additional expansion options.

The company continues to invest in its Advanced Technology Center, which allows customers to examine tech solutions. According to Kavanaugh, this approach sets his company apart from the competition.

Kavanaugh said World Wide has become more involved with Big Data analytics and cyber-security, which he described as “a problem that isn't going away."

World Wide Technology ranked No. 71 on Forbes magazine's America's Largest Private Companies list last year, up from No. 93 in 2012. The company also ranks No. 34 on Fortune magazine's Best Companies to Work For list.

Add any jobs in 2013? World Wide added 313 local jobs and 633 jobs, including interns, companywide in 2013.

Adding any jobs in 2014? World Wide expects to add a total of 438 jobs this year. About two thirds of the positions will be in engineering and IT. Fifteen to 20 percent of the positions will be in sales with a similar breakdown in general operations, such as finance, HR and facilities.

Edward Jones, which is owned by its partners, posted a record year in revenue and profit, added 700 financial advisers and grew assets under management by $118 billion.

In addition to a 15.5 percent revenue increase, profit increased 21 percent to $674 million in 2013.

Adding advisers is the driver of revenue and profit at the brokerage, and recruitment has been difficult in recent years.

The firm's traditional hiring model was to go after people interested in changing careers. Managing partner Jim Weddle said hiring was difficult during the recession because people with jobs have been reluctant to leave them.

To adjust, Jones beefed up intern and training programs, recruited former military officers, and hired brokers from other firms — something it didn't used to do. “Growth helps us right-size our presence in all U.S. and Canadian markets," Weddle said. The firm has 12,483 advisers in the U.S. and 675 in Canada.

In addition, Jones helped Maryville University develop a new major in financial services that combines traditional finance courses with marketing. The firms have learned that most traditional finance majors want to be analysts, and not enough were trained for sales.

Edward Jones has a net goal of an additional 756 financial advisers this year, Weddle said.

In another departure from tradition, the company, which previously did not sell proprietary products, launched its own mutual funds to accommodate its large investment pool since selling any given fund — maybe because the fund manager has changed — is a huge event, and a taxable one for its clients. Edward Jones Advisory Solutions has more than $100 billion to invest.

Graybar will continue to focus on serving its customers and growing its business in 2014, said Graybar Chairman, President and CEO Kathleen Mazzarella. Graybar's physical expansion will continue in 2014, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will also broaden its “eCommerce and mobility capabilities to enhance its online presence and expand its digital marketing to grow sales with new and existing customers," the filing stated. Those moves will position the company to continue growing sales in 2014, according to the SEC filing.

Graybar's net sales in the electrical market sector increased 7 percent in 2013. But overall, profit fell 6.2 percent to $81.3 million in 2013. According to the SEC filing, that was due to $30.6 million the company saw in gains from the sale of company properties in 2012 that did not repeat in 2013.

Graybar won a 3-year contract to supply electrical commodities and services to members of the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance in April 2013. The contract was expected to generate as much as $80 million in annual sales.

In November, Graybar named Dale Sheff controller. Sheff replaced Martin Beagen, who retired at the beginning of 2013.

Apex Oil, which ranked No. 85 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies in 2011, jumped to No. 73 on that list last year.

Founded in 1932, Apex, its affiliates and subsidiaries are engaged in wholesale sales, storage and distribution of petroleum products, including asphalt, kerosene, fuel oil, diesel fuel, heavy oil, gasoline and marine bunkers.

Apex owns six refined product and crude oil storage terminals in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions, with an aggregate available storage capacity of 7.8 million barrels. The company's subsidiaries include a tugboat and barge business.

World Point Terminals, an Apex-backed limited partnership that operates petroleum-products terminals, completed its initial public offering in August, generating about $175 million.

Apex is primarily owned by Tony Novelly and members of his family. Novelly also leads St. Louis-based FutureFuel Corp., a publicly traded manufacturer of custom and performance chemicals and biofuels, which reported revenue of $444.9 million in 2013, up 27 percent from 2012. FutureFuel was the only Missouri business to make Forbes' Best Small Companies list in 2013, coming in at No. 63.

Ralph Casazzone, an oil trader with Vero Beach, Fla.-based G.E. Warren Corp., was named president of Center Oil Co. after its founder Gary Parker died.

Center Oil Co. is one of the nation's largest private, wholesale distributors of gasoline and other refined petroleum products. The company owns storage terminals and has access to the Magellan, Texas Eastern, Kinder Morgan and Kaneb pipeline systems. It also distributes by ship, barge and truck.

The company also owns Center Ethanol LLC, which has been producing fuel from corn at its Sauget, Ill. plant since 2008.

McCarthy Holdings Inc. completed 97 projects and broke ground on 90 new ones in 2013, a year in which the company saw particular growth in its solar energy and institutional work.

In 2013, McCarthy wrapped up a $320 million refinery for British Petroleum in Whiting, Ind., said President and Chief Operating Officer Derek Glanvill. The company also finished a $447.3 million hospital at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif. "We've seen the brights spots of the energy sector, and some of our traditional markets in health care and institutional areas, government areas, are actually coming forward," he said. "The work we landed a few years ago (is) doing well."

One of the top 10 U.S. commercial builders, and the largest in St. Louis, McCarthy opened new offices in Kansas City and northwest Indiana in 2013.

For 2014, McCarthy is working on Mer- cy's $350 million replacement hospital in Joplin, Mo., and a $313 million renovation at Los Angeles International Airport.

McCarthy Holdings, which is employee owned, is comprised of McCarthy Building Companies Inc. and MC Industrial Inc.

Add any jobs in 2013? 38 at headquarters and in branch offices in St. Louis and 151 companywide.

Lower fuel prices and a shut down of a main diesel terminal led to a significant revenue decline in 2013 for Piasa Enterprises Inc.

Piasa, the parent company of HWRT Oil Co., markets petroleum, diesel, gasoline and owns four pipeline terminals and a main facility in Hartford-Wood River, Ill.

In March 2013, Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Co. announced it would discontinue interstate transportation for ultra-low sulfur diesel in its pipeline that originates in Baytown, Texas, and runs through Missouri and Illinois, as well as other states. That move drastically reduced Piasa's supply of diesel fuel, said Chairman and CEO Matt Schrimpf.

To make up for the difference last year, Schrimpf said Piasa started planning for new sources of crude oil and installing infrastructure to handle growth in 2014.

“We had to adapt when we were told a pipeline would discontinue shipping a motoring product.We evalauted a few new business opportunities and expansions into new supply points in Kentucky and Tennessee," Schrimpf said.

In 2014, Piasa is planning to enter into four new markets off the Colonial Pipeline system. The pipeline moves more than 100 million gallons of refined petroleum products a day across the eastern and southern U.S. Last year, Matt Schrimpf replaced his father William Schrimpf as CEO and chairman who retired after 30 years with the company. Piasa is majority owned by Schrimpf and his sister Susan Hatfield.

Add any jobs in 2013? Piasa hired three drivers.

Who are you grooming for leadership?Bryan Hatfield became the vice president.

Local employees: 41

Total employees: 48

Leadership: Matt Schrimpf, chairman and CEO

9 Prairie Farms Dairy Inc.

2013 revenue:$2.78 billion +4.5%

Prairie Farms Dairy marked its 75th anniversary by introducing new products and gaining market share. The Carlinville, Ill.-based dairy cooperative distributes its own brands and private label dairy products in an expanding footprint that covers more than 30 percent of the U.S.

“Based on unit sales, Prairie Farms 2-percent Gallon Milk is now the No. 1 brand in the country," said CEO Ed Mullins. “We also hold the No. 1 or No. 2 branded share position in many other dairy categories. Specifically, in St. Louis, we are the branded dairy market leader."

Two new varieties of Old Recipe Seasonal Favorites Milk, Jelly Bean and Chocolate Marshmallow, made their debut in 2013. The new flavors are manufactured in the Granite City, Ill., facility using ultra-pasteurized processing, which extends the shelf life to 75 days, allowing the dairy to distribute the flavored milk from coast to coast.

“We don't intend to stop there and plan to roll out other specialty products throughout the year. And we'll be expanding in key geographies, including Chicago, Ohio and the Mississippi Valley," Mullins said.

Prairie Farms' roots date back to the 1930s. The ownership group is the Illinois Agricultural Cooperative, composed of 728 member farmers.

As family-owned Schnuck Markets Inc. celebrated its 75th anniversary, the grocery chain announced big changes at the top.

In early 2014, former CEO Scott Schnuck, 63, passed the torch to younger brother Todd Schnuck, 55, the company's longtime CFO and its COO since 2009. And, in 2013, the company added a non-family member to its management team for the first time, when it tapped former Wal-Mart and Aldi's executive Anthony Hucker as chief strategy officer and COO.

Amid fierce competition in the local grocery business, it's now up to Todd Schnuck and his team to grow the company. “Our greatest opportunity is to find ways to build sales within our existing stores," Todd Schnuck said.

But Schnucks also is looking to expand its market. The company has announced plans to open two stores in Springfield, Ill., two in Evansville and one in Farmington. In early 2014, it purchased Columbia Centre Market Place Inc. in Columbia, Ill. Overall, Schnucks operates 100 stores and 95 in-store pharmacies in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Todd Schnuck said he plans to keep focused on the chain's diverse customer base. “It goes back to making sure we know what our customers want and need," he said. “You can't be a cookie cutter." The supermarket continues to do brisk lunch business at its downtown urban concept store Culinaria, which opened in 2009. Todd Schnuck declined to say whether the store is profitable, but said there are continuous improvements to be made.

Despite posting a modest revenue increase in 2013, Schnuck Markets continues to deal with fallout from a security breach that compromised about 2.4 million cards. The company still faces six lawsuits related to the breach, and Todd Schnuck said until the litigation is settled, it's not over. “But I'm all about looking forward," he said.